July, 2011 Milford, NE, West Branch, Iowa

Ended up for the night in Milford.  Milford is home to Southeast Community College, for technical and vocational training.   A nice quiet town off the highway.    Found the school cafeteria for a great dinner.   Mostly young men there.      So hot this evening, I WANT THE MOUNTAIN coolness again.

Courtesy of Marion Wayne Museum

  I got up early just to get some air and start moving.   Zoomed thru Iowa, it was just too darn hot.  Past Winterset birth place of John Wayne.  It was nice that Iowa's rest stops had WiFi good to use in the car and inside counters w/ plug ins.    

West Branch, Iowa, seemed liked a great stop.   Here is the Herbert Hoover's Presidential library and museum.    Paid an entrance fee of $10 for library  and surrounding buildings of his Quaker meeting place, black smith shop, old homes.    It was too bad I didn't have a lot of time as it was late afternoon.   There was so much in the library:   report cards, college info, childhood pics and memories on many presidents.   I was very impressed with Hoover.   At age 23 he applied for a position posted for someone 35 and with great experience for a mining engineer  in Australia.  Bought himself a nice suit and bluffed his way into the job.  I believe it mentioned that he found gold here and told his employer maybe worth $1 million.   Turns out it eventually brought in $65 million.  

Birth house of President Hoover

The next year or so he was in China and survived the Boxer Rebellion.  His life seemed to follow many accomplishments at a young age.   Orphaned as a young boy and raised as a Quaker he became a millionaire by 40.
West Branch is where Hoover was born.  This is now a small town mostly dedicated to preserving building of the Hoover's.  The fee gets you inside buildings but anytime you can just walk around all the houses.  In the back is the resting place of President Hoover and his wife.

A warning:  Do not stay at the President's Inn which is just before you reach his library.   There was a coupon in one of those travel books from the rest area.   He did not honor it because there was a special event....some older school friends having a get together.    I never heard or saw them. The shower was not hot, no tissue (Kleenex in holder), no hair dryer toilet seat broke, TV went out, only ice machine broke.  Breakfast laid out on a small shelf by toaster consisting of 8 pieces of bread, mini hostess /donuts (12 in a holder), OJ empty, coffee undrinkable, stale foot loops almost empty.  There was cream and milk in a mini fridge.   This was to serve everybody in the INN.   I had checked at 6:30 a.m. nothing then again after showering at 8:20 a.m. to find this sorry site.  Still no group in site.

Pics courtesy of website

So this a.m. in the quiet rain visited the graves of President Hoover and his wife, Lou.   Beautiful well kept area on knoll with plain large marble slabs on top...very dignified and appropriate.

Then I drove home.